Erik Spoelstra

06/24/2013 – Erik Spoelstra – Miami Heat 2013 Championship Celebration Parade in Miami, Florida – June 24, 2013 – American Airlines Arena – Miami, Florida – Photo Credit: A. Gilbert / PR Photos

Birth Name: Erik Jon Spoelstra

Place of Birth: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.

Date of Birth: November 1, 1970

Ethnicity:
*father – Frisian/Dutch, as well as Irish, German, and Scottish
*mother – Filipino

Erik Spoelstra is an American professional basketball player and coach. He played for professional German club TuS Herten; and has coached the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA), since 2008, having previously been asssitant coach for both TuS Herten and the Miami Heat. He has won two NBA championships with the Heat. He is the first Asian-American head coach in the history of the four major North American sports leagues. He is nicknamed “Coach Spo.”

He is the son of Elisa Celino and Jon Spoelstra, an author, sports marketer, and NBA executive, for the Buffalo Braves, Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, and New Jersey Nets. His father is American. His mother is from San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines. He was raised in Buffalo, New York, and then Portland, Oregon. Erik has three children with his former wife, Miami Heat dancer Nikki Sapp.

His surname is Frisian.

Erik’s paternal grandfather was Watson Spoelstra (Watson Nicholas Spoelstra, the son of Klaas Watses Spoelstra and Jennie Dyke). Watson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was a sportswriter for The Detroit News, from 1945 to 1973, president of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, and the founder of Baseball Chapel, a Christian ministry for professional baseball players, of which he was leader, from 1973 to 1982. Erik’s great-grandfather Klaas was born in Niezijl, Zuidhorn, Groningen, Netherlands, the son of Waatze Spoelstra and Douwina Kramer. Erik’s great-grandmother Jennie was born in Michigan, to Dutch parents, Jacobus Dyke and Francina/Cena Marie Jonkman.

Erik’s paternal grandmother was Anna Jean Murphy (the daughter of Irving Allan Murphy and Jean Irene Dunnebacke). Anna was born in Michigan. Irving was the son of Andrew J. Murphy and Anna Healy, whose mother was born in Ireland. Jean was the daughter of Anthony J. Dunneback, whose parents were German, and of Jennie Mary Campbell, who was Scottish.

Source: Genealogy of Erik Spoelstra (focusing on his father’s side) – https://www.geni.com